


The Solar Winds of War (Сонячні вітри війни)

by Captain_Kohai



Category: Original Work
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Distant future, F/M, Gun Violence, Mecha, Outer Space, Space Battles, Swordfighting, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:13:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29933235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Kohai/pseuds/Captain_Kohai
Summary: In the far distant future where humanity has colonized different planets in the Local Groups. Even though technology has progressed, humanity's habits did not. A new, long era of constant warring colonies and suffering has risen. One of these wars involved the colonies of the UK and Ukraine. A new kind of hellish trials await.
Relationships: Original Character(s)/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue (Пролог)

In 1973, new advancement of the physics field has resulted in the creation of New Fusion Technology. With this humanity can be able to travel the stars as quick as possible. This would lead to the creation of continent size spaceships called "Star Treaders". In 1998, several countries in a worldwide effort had obtain Star Treaders of their own in an attempt to seek new planets within the Local Group to colonize to prevent overpopulation. Several Planets were colonized, and those planets would later gain independence. This moment in time has been immortalized as the Age of Travel. 

One of the most revolutionary discoveries that came about from the Age of Travel is the realization of human beings ability to use magic. It didn’t happen immediately; the first few human beings to develop this abilities didn’t sprout up until four to five generation since the colonizations happened. At first, cases of children being born with these abilities were rare and in very isolated incidents. Those early magic users were unfortunately experimented on. Scientists all over the Local Group had come to the conclusion that this is part of human biology, and the reason these abilities didn’t appear on humans normally on the Earth is that because of the Earth’s atmosphere prevented such abilities to be achieved. By the time of the current tenth generation, almost all of the people in the various planets of the Local Group are capable of using magic. These people are given the name “Magi”.

Magi abilities vary in strength. The weak magi are called “W-casters”; they don’t have much in abilities. Mid level magi are called “M-casters” and can use powers such as psychokinesis and/or imbuing strength into a weapon. The strong magi are called “S-casters”, they can set things on fire with their minds and perform great feats. The two common magic skills in the general populace are telepathy and power output transfer, the latter of which is more common in talon pilots. It is possible for a W-caster to become a M-caster or a S-caster, but that would take months or years of dedicated work. Testing on strong levels shows that people born in the autism spectrum are slightly more likely to be S-casters. Though Magi abilities are ubiquitous, people haven’t found much use for them outside of...war. 

Though man has move far into the stars, they have yet to lose two simple things, war and ideologies. People began to think about where they stand in the universe now that man have fully mastered space travel, a new age of philosophy began. Ideologies were made, some of them died, some of them became bigger, and some of them were assimilated into other more bigger ideologies. However, these ideologies only fueled the inner warmongering hearts of man. Soon the Local Group would enter a new era of death, destruction, and war. The New Enlightenment, the Philosophy Conflicts. Wars were fought to establish the one true mindset. This lead to man making a new kind of "toy for war", large human-like machines that man can ride like vehicles, Talons. Planet leaders will raise with a new ideologies, only for either those ideologies to fail, or to succeed. 

Always war for some damned reason, always for territory, always for a new "better" government, always to show who's right and who's wrong, always senseless bloodshed...

To Be Continued


	2. The Battle of the Ruda (Битва на Руді)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Editing by Deacon of Slaanesh  
> Ukrainian words by LunaQubeley

It is a cool autumn in the woods. Somewhere in these woods is a military base, with many cabins arranged in its bounds. In one of these cabins, rock music can be heard. But there is only one person in this cabin. His head bangs and his wavy blonde hair thrashes about as he air-guitars to the rhythm of the Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Гражданская оборона) song, To Each His Own (Каждому-своё).

This nineteen year old man gets a rude interruption from his fun as a woman of about the same age walks in. Her palm hits her face, before dragging back across her black boyish hair.

She walks over to the source of the music on the desk, a smartphone with a wireless speaker.

Taking the smartphone in her hand, she finds the pause button and turns it off. Even though the music is not playing, for a few seconds the man is air guitaring as if it still were. The man does notice it, but only immediately before the woman whacks him in the back of his head.

Rubbing his head for a second, he looks at his ally and yells, “OW! What the hell, Olesya!?”

“I was sent to get you for the battle meeting, Melnyk,” she said. “Need I remind you that Major Gavrilyuk needs ALL personnel to attend whenever he does these.”

“Why does she keep calling me by my last name?” the slap victim wonders.

Seeing the time, Olesya grabs Melnyk’s hand before he can finish dithering, and starts dragging him out the door.

Though they have been in the Kohunetian military for about a year and a half, Gleb Melnyk and Olesya Oliynyk’s story truly starts here, on the Kohunetian military base Polum'yana Suknya, on the Kohunetian owned resource planet of Synyastina 5. Their lives and the lives of others are about to change, for better or worse.

Gleb thinks meetings are kind of a drag, but there's nothing he can do to stop “Oil Face” from literally dragging him to the Major. [At least the base wasn’t bad to look at.] This time of year, the leaves matched the color of the setting sun.

The leaves of Synyastina 5's foliage are odd. Unlike on Earth, the lobes of the leaves curve inward, horizontally. And while they’re usually green like Earth leaves, when autumn rolls around, the pigment on some of them turn blueish or a candy-apple reddish color, like this setting sun.

Gleb and Olesya finally reach the meeting hall, which looks like a warehouse from the outside. Two metal doors keep Gleb, Olesya, and the autumn chill outside.

“Okay Melnyk, let's not stay out here,” says Olesya. Gleb rolls his eyes as he and Olesya open both doors.

The inside of the hall is filled with chairs, and now soldiers too. Major Artem Gavrilyuk’s 199th Battalion, the Grave Diggers, consists of 1,000 soldiers, so the size is warranted. “Let’s find some seats,” Olesya says.

The two move down the aisle like bobbing bottles in an ocean of men, scanning for empty seats. Before long, Gleb sees a familiar face. That familiar face is none other than Bohuslav Panchenko. Bohuslav is discernible by the black oseledets hair style that he sports, a holdover from his Cossack background. Two empty seats beckon next to him.

“Found some.” Gleb points at the two seats.

Olesya looks to the seats, and winces in annoyance as she notices who sits between them. “But that’s where….”

She could have finished, but Bohuslav sees the two and waves them over. “Oh, fine…” Olesya then follows Gleb to the seats.

Olesya is not fond of Bohuslav. She sees him as a slacker, and as his CO, she is naturally irked. She cannot deny, though, that Bohuslav can do a good job when he has to.

As Gleb and Olesya both take their seats, Bohuslav asks, "So, did the wife dragged you out of bed?” He giggles at his own comment.

Gleb’s face curls up. ”Oh shut it, Bohus!"

Next to Bohuslav are two more soldiers from Olesya's squad. A younger man in his early twenties, with brunette Ivy League hair and a young-looking face. The other one is a woman in her mid-thirties, with a blonde hair cut from neck length and a curvy figure.

The man turns to look at the woman and says "It’s almost like they’re married, right Klara?”

The woman, named Klara, grins at the man. "Oh Illyan, when you’re in love with your childhood friend, you might as well be."

Illyan Holub comes from an upper class family. Because of that, he was able to get into a very prestigious university. He's something of a modern knight, a soldier born in a controlled environment and raised to serve in the military.

Klara Chyornykh is a kind woman. She doesn't talk about her past at all, though presumably she has one. When the topic comes up, she brushes it aside. However, she can be very talkative when she wants to, especially when she flirts with Illyan, as she often does.

“It is not like that, you two.” Olesya crosses her arms and closes her eyes.

“She even threw in the ‘It’s not like that’ line!” Klara tilted back her head and laughed. “Ohohoho!”

Olesya gets annoyed by a few things. One of them is being called Gleb’s childhood lover, and another is Klara’s stupid laugh. “Why can’t you two be like Boyko.” Olesya points to the soldier sitting next to Illyan. He’s about 205 cm (6’9 ft.) tall and brawny, and he sports long curly brunette hair and a Garibaldi beard. 

If one could describe Yuliy Boyko in one word, it would be silent; he rarely ever talks. He’s piloting skills are second to none among the soldiers of Polum'yana Suknya. Because of his record and his demeanor, he’s been called “The Deathly Silence”.

Next to Yuliy is a man in his mid-forties, from appearances. His figure is rather skinny, and his disheveled hair is turning greyer by the minute. He shakes in place, and mutters to himself out loud.

“It’s okay Pliniy. So far you have been able to survive for this long; you can just do it again. But what if I can’t? What if this could be the time the Reaper will come and get me? I could try and fake an illness. But will that work? It didn’t work the last few times, so this could be another one. Ahhh! I’m screwed!!”

Not wanting to deal with his muttering, Olesya calls him out. “Can it, Litvinchuk.” 

Pliniy Litvinchuk is a very jumpy and nervous man. He always has been, ever since he was a child. How he was able to get into the military is a mystery. Yet somehow, he has been able to make it out alive in ever sortie he’s ever been in.

These seven soldiers are the 1st talon squad, a part of the 1st talon platoon of the talon squadron. Though new, and though they don’t seem to gel together too well, they have proven to be an effective unit in the training drills and mach exercises. Olesya, as their sergeant, has shown this to be true. During those said mach exercises, she and her unit have outperformed the other squads. This meeting will be the beginning of their debut.

For about two years, the Elizabethian government has waged war on Kohunety for control of the Synyastina Planet sphere. The Elizabethians are descendants of British colonists from the Age of Travel. The Kohunetians are also descendants of Earth colonists, the Ukrainians to be precise.

Everyone in the room quieted, seeing Major Gavrilyuk stepping up to the lectern. His scarred gaze is cold enough to tame a wild animal, or so the rumors say. His scars clearly show his battlefield experience. Even his frame is intimating. Rumor has it that he came from the Zymova Vershyna Mountains of south Kohunety, one of the harshest places on the planet.

Behind him sit the lieutenants and captains in their chairs. “Now listen up!!” the Major’s voice came hurling out. His voice always sounded monstrous, or at the very least monster-like. It’s so deep and booming. Even Olesya has felt unease at his voice once.

“This is our second attempt to take back the main ore mining facility of Rudashek.” Rudashek is one of the first places that the Elizabethians attacked, and they had captured it quickly. “We have intel that Elizabethians has set up shop in the facility. As to what they are doing? I have no clue. Our spy on the inside was captured by the enemy, and we fear the worst.”

A projector turns on, showing the layout of the facility. “Now, the mission will be as follows. The attack will be a two company strike while the rest will be done in the outer area. Captain Sobol’s Talon squadron and Captain Vovk’s 1st infantry company will attack the facility. Sobol’s squadron will take care of the enemy Talons on the outside, so that Vovk’s company will come in and attack the enemy inside. Vovk’s company will take the base and hopefully find our missing spy, or whatever is left of her. Taking Rudashek will be a big step to victory in the war with Elizabetho, so I expect you fools to see it through at any cost. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?” “YES SIR!” Major Gavrilyuk grins at that and yells “THEN WE’LL START THE OPERATION TOMORROW MORNING AT 05:00 HOURS! DISMISSED!”

Afterwards, Olesya’s squad has a meal. Because of how early the operation is, they’re having dinner early. The inside of the mess hall contains what a regular mess hall of a regular camp would be expected to: wood-panel walls, wooden support beans, a fireplace, etc.

The meals are also what you would expect from the military. The pampushky is a little tough to bite into, and tastes stale. The kapusnyak comes from a can, and it smells rancid for some reason. They also serve sichenyky sandwiches with french bread, but the sichenyky looks moldy. A cooked, peeled potato with nothing else to eat it with rounds out the menu. The soldiers also have a choice for what to drink: horilka that tastes like water, or kompot that goes down like oil. 

Another one of this “meals” is called “Hardtack”. This is a type of biscuit or cracker that was once eaten by sailors and pirates. The first time Gleb tried to eat one, he nearly broke his teeth. Now, he knows that the best way to eat it is by breaking it into pieces first. Even then, it still doesn’t taste good.

How the cooks ever got work is a mystery. Everyone at the base has learned to ignore their taste buds and eat.

Olesya’s squad was eating at their table and discussing tomorrow’s operation, when Illyan abruptly changed the subject. “Gleb, what’s with the name ‘Oil Face’?” Gleb turns to Illyan, while Olesya nearly chokes on her food.

“Well Illyan that’s…” says Gleb.

“Nothing! No reason!” Olesya stares at the two with daggers in her eyes.

“I was only curious.”

“Better have that curiosity checked, Holub.” Olesya continues eating her meal, with reddened cheeks. “That is something only me and Melnyk should know.” 

“Seems like whatever it is must be embarrassing. Right, Oil Face?”

Olesya hoped she would’ve gotten through the day without hearing that girls voice. Olesya turns to see a woman around the same age as herself and Gleb. She sports a blonde marcel wave hairstyle and ruby red lips.

“Afternoon, Shevchenko.”

Tavifa Shevchenko is someone from Gleb and Olesya’s childhood. In the view of the base personnel, she is a snobby rich military brat. In private, Olesya calls her a bitch. Due to her military background; she is the sergeant to the 6th talon squad.

“Can I have this seat, Glibon’ko~?” Tavifa stands over Gleb’s shoulder. 

“Well I…”

“Move it, Preppy!” Pushing Illyan out of the way, she glares into Gleb’s eyes. “You know Gleb, it’s a real shame that you’re working with Oil Face instead of me, your one TRUE love.”

Olesya’s insides boil. She hates, and always will hate, Tavifa and her attitude. Even Tavifa’s own squadmates can’t stand her, but since she is the sergeant and not them, the poor grunts have to put up with her.

“Have I told you how handsome you are?” Tavifa sensually caresses Gleb’s chest.

Gleb removes her hands from his body. “Yes, like, a lot. Anyway, shouldn’t you be heading back to your squad to formalize a strategy for tomorrow?”

Pouting, Tavifa says, “But they’re sooo boring, and I. want. to. be. with. you.” Tavifa inches closer to Gleb to plant a kiss on him but….

“Tavifa, I REALLY think you should go back to your squad’s table right now!” Olesya snaps up from her chair and gives Tavifa a death stare.

Tavifa looks at her for a few seconds, and giggles. “Hehe! Fine, I’ll go.” Getting up from her chair, Tavifa walks over to Olesya and whispers into her ear. “Don’t worry about Gleb; I’ll take him when you DIE on our mission tomorrow, Miss Piggy.”

Olesya, rage in her eyes, tries to throw a punch at Tavifa’s face, but Gleb stops it before anything bad can happen.

“It’s not worth it,” he says quietly. Tavifa gives a sly smile to Olesya before she walks off. 

“Man, to think they had to put up with her as kids,” says Bohuslav.

Pliniy fidgets with his fork “That was close for a second. I was REALLY scared there.”

“Plin, when are you not scared?” Bohuslav looks at Pliniy as he breaks up his hardtack. 

Klara places Illyan’s head on her shoulder. “It sucks that she had to come over here to cause such trouble.” 

“Klara, I’m fine.” Illyan says, while poking Klara’s face to make her let him go.

Olesya sits back down and continues her meal. “The situation has ended, so let’s just finish our food.” Everyone in the squad continues what they were doing before.

Only Olesya, Gleb, and Tavifa know the meaning of the nickname “Oil Face”. When Olesya was a kid, she was rather pudgy. The word “oil” can also mean “fat” in Ukrainian, so one would think that this insult hurts her deeply. But all the contrary, she is perfectly okay with Gleb calling her that. 

This could be because her family runs an oils shop, and some of them are used for skin care. Olesya uses one of these oils for a dry skin issue that plagues her during the Kohunetian summers. It also has a lovely fragrance to it, which Gleb liked sniffing as a child. He started calling her “Oil Face” too, but as a term of endearment rather than as an insult. He would also defend her from others’ harsh comments.

On the day of the operation, everyone in Sobol’s squadron gets dressed and assembles in a huge lot, where they stand at attention. Captain Sobol does not keep them waiting for long. The clean shaven, somewhat wrinkly-faced captain looks over his squadron. “Men! This mission will be tough, and some of you may die, but this operation will be a stepping stone toward victory! Now let’s move out!”

A large garage in the lot opens, showing the so-called “talons”. Rows upon rows of humanoid robots, each 17.5 meters (58 feet) tall, fill the garage. The robots look like they’re wearing modern military equipment, and they have a brown color scheme. Despite the size of the robots, the men are able to get in them easily. Captain Sobol gets into one that has a dragoon helmet- shaped head unit instead of the F2 SPECTRA helmet-shaped head units that his troops are piloting. The Spangenhelm heads are piloted by lieutenants, while the sergeants’ units mount something resembling a SSh-68.

The talons, or “shushaks” as they are named, pile into a huge silver “ri’ber” plane, which has a fuselage large enough to hold the talons. There are two sets of wings on the plane, the normal wings and the engine wings, the latter having an engine inside.

As the ri’ber starts its engines, Gleb in his shushak finishes looking over the food he packed for the mission. With a sigh he says "Leftovers..."

"Be ready, Melnyk. This is our first mission, and I’d rather not have someone in our squad die in it.”

“Don’t worry Oil Face, I won’t go up and die on your sweet face.” Olesya’s face went bright red as she heard that.

“I-well… thank you… for reassuring me, private Melnyk.” 

Olesya hangs up her call with Gleb, and Tavifa calls him after. “Don’t worry Glibon’ko, I’ll be sure you are safe and sound. Though I can’t say the same for Oil Face.” Gleb rolls his eyes. He sees himself as a pretty good pilot, all things considered. “And if we make it out alive with a victory. I’ll treat you something special~.” Tavifa ends her call before she gets to see Gleb cringe at the thought of the “treat”.

Gleb, trying to keep his mind off the upcoming battle, connects his smartphone to a speaker he installed in his shushak. The song "There Will Be a Day" ("Будет день") by The Russians (Россияне) plays as the ri’ber takes off to their destination. Operation Driving Fall or, as it would later be known, “The Battle of the Ruda” will be the showcase for Olesya’s squad. This will be the “do or die” time, but who will “do” and who will “die”?

Huddled in the ri’ber, the Kohunetians fly. During the flight, Captain Sobol turns on the comms systems. “Okay, men. We’re going to fly over our destination in about four minutes. We will be dropping down from the ri'ber.”

The pilots’ screens show a map of the facility, on which are placed several green, blue, red, grey, and magenta dots numbered one to twenty-five. Sobol’s squadron has about twenty-five squads in it, seven men for each squad, and five squads for each platoon. 

“The facility has five objectives: the mining stations on the northeast and the northwest ends, the facility’s power generators on the southeast end, the machine depot on the southwest end, and the refinery in the middle. Lieutenant Antonov’s green platoon will take the machine depot, lieutenant Nazarenko’s blue platoon will take the northwestern mining station, lieutenant Shvets’ red platoon will take the generators, lieutenant Lukashenko’s grey platoon will take the northeastern mining station with me, and lieutenant Sokolov’s magenta platoon will take the refinery. The enemy will have talons stationed in each point.”

At this point the door of the fuselage opens, showing the blue platoon’s destination. Blue platoon drops down one by one. The other platoons will do the same once they are over their destinations. Magenta platoon will be last to drop.

The ri’ber flies at very high altitude, so it can’t be detected. When the platoons drop they take Tactical Landing Disks (TLDs) with them. These disks allow for safe landing from any altitude, even from space.

However, the Elizabethians catch wind after the first two drops. By the time Magenta platoon drops, the Elizabethians are prepared to fire on sight. Gleb witnesses with his own eyes three members of 5th squad gunned down as they fall. Seeing the carnage wreaked amongst them, magenta platoon fires back.

“Bastards!” Gleb fires shot after shot from his shushak’s 36mm rifle. He keeps shooting at the enemy talons even after landing on the ground. 

The Elizabethians have several talon units. The ones being used here are “Cortons”, “Plasses”, and “Fenuts”. The Corton’s design is reminiscent of beefeaters, while the Plass’s designs are based on royal regiment of Scotland uniforms and the Fenut’s designs are based on medieval armor.

One fenut, its beam rifle out of ammo, goes in to cut Gleb down with a beam falchion, but Gleb dodges out of the way and shoots down the fenut. Bohuslav has drawn a beam fauchard and is cutting down enemy units as he goes. Illyan takes down four enemy Plasses with his beam SMG. Klara takes down some talons, including one Corton on its way to attack Illyan from behind with a great hammer.

Illyan turns his shushak around to see what happened. “Oh!? Thanks Klara!”

“No problem Illyan, my dear.”

Pliniy, on the other hand, is mostly dodging enemy attacks and is barely attacking the enemy back.

“OHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGOD!!”

In his attempt to get away, he finds himself cornered by the enemy, who at this point have switched to melee weapons. 

“No…STAY AWAY!!”

Pliniy fires 16 shots from his talon’s 50mm shotgun in rapid succession. Though his eyes were closed, he opens them to see that somehow he has managed to shoot down those enemy units cornering him. With a sigh of relief, Pliniy slumps onto his seat.

Elsewhere Yuliy unloads from his talon’s grenade launcher, destroying several enemy units at a time. Olesya uses a beam spadroon and a beam pistol to take down five enemy fenuts.

After a while, the Elizabethians seem to run out of talons. Then a few different voices came up over the comms system.

“Northwest mining station, cleared.”

“Northeast mining station, cleared.”

“Refinery, cleared.”

“Machine depot, cleared.”

“Generators, cleared”

Everyone is relieved that the fighting is over. Bohuslav takes out a flask filled with “acquired” beer. Pliniy breaths heavily into a doggie bag. Illyan stretches his arms upward and yawns. And Yuliy chews on some bubble gum. 

Captain Sobol calls over the comms. “Okay, I’ve just gotten word that Captain Vovk’s men will arrive in a minute or two. Just keep the LZ clear until then.” 

Just then, Vovk’s 1st company can be seen just over the distance. The aircraft they’re riding in is called a “Fyuv”. It’s a smaller aircraft compared to the ri’ber, as it’s supposed to carry infantry. Gleb sits back in his chair, thinking.

“Well, all there is to do now is just sit down, relax, and wait for Vovk’s crew to take care of the rest.”

Gleb immediately hears a sound. He is not the only one; a rumbling can be heard throughout the whole facility. However, the noise is by far the loudest at the refinery. A group of big, tall, triple-barreled cannons emerges at the back end of the refinery.

“What the fuck are those!?” Bohuslav grips his controls.

One of the cannons turns in the direction of the fyuv. The cannon starts making strange sounds, while orange light emanates from around the barrel. The fyuv starts to go into evasive actions, but before it can really get going, the cannon fires.

The shot was like a beam shell, but whatever it really was, it destroyed the fyuv. The blast tore the plane in two with a loud boom. The remains crashed down on the ground, some of the debris exploding upon landing. Shock and terror rings through the squadron, and the comms blare to life.

“THE HELL HAPPENED! THAT BLAST TOOK OUT THE FYUV IN ONE HIT!”

Sobol, assessing the situation, tells the troops, “Watch yourselves! Those are not ordinary cannons! Just keep calm and—“ 

One of the other cannons fires another shot towards the direction of the generators. A loud boom can be heard from that direction.

“OH FUCK! THAT BLAST HIT WHERE THE CAPTAIN AND 14TH AND 15TH SQUADS WERE STANDING!”

“THAT BLAST MADE A GODDAMN CRATER!”

And with that, everyone started to panic. Tavifa confers with half of her platoon and her CO, Lieutenant Nazarenko. 

“WHAT THE HELL WE DO NOW!?”

Nazarenko quickly begins making orders, seeing how she is in command right now.

“WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF THE CANNONS’ RANG—“

“LIEUTENANT LOOK OUT!”

Tavifa calls out to Nazarenko, but it’s too late. As another shot fires from another cannon, Tavifa bolts. Though close to the center of the blast she makes it out safely; Nazarenko’s unit, however, isn’t so lucky.

Worried calls from Tavifa’s squadmates come in, but she can only dash their hopes. “Lieutenant Nazarenko has been hit! I repeat, Lieutenant Nazarenko has been hit!”

“Shit! Not her too!”

Olesya calls to squadron. “Quickly, find some cover!”

And everyone else in the squadron scrambles to find cover, as the cannons fire off.

Inside the facility stands a man in his late teens, with his brunette hair in a buzz cut. He quickly enters an elevator; he pushes a button to make the elevator go down. Though there are many parts to the facility, a good bulk of it lays beneath it.

Part of it leads into the mining stations, and some of it is part of the refinery. Another part of it is the workers’ entrance. Synyastina 5 doesn’t have much in the way of infrastructure, so the workers of the facility live on the nearby planet of “Vyiyem 3”. For the transport ship the workers take to the planet, the facility has a landing pad that also functions as a ship elevator.

When the Elizabethians took over, they forced the workers to make more room for their weapon development area. Once they were done, they sent the workers away at gunpoint. 

The young man makes it down to the basement where the rest of his platoon is, and walks down a corridor of rooms, until he comes by his. In that room sits two children. 

One is a girl with hair the same color hair as the older teen’s, but styled in a long ponytail. She is wearing a white dress with a collar and six black buttons arranged 2x3. She also wears black legging and black socks with white pumps. The girl looks to be twelve.

The other one is a boy that looks like he is around age 10. His hair is short and scraggly, and unlike the girl and the young man, his hair is a lighter shade of blonde. He sports a navy blue sailor’s outfit and short shorts, with a knee high argyle socks and black derby shoes.

The two kids run up to the young man; the boy is the first to speak.

“Big brother Brody, please don’t go.”

“Elliot and I don’t want you to die.” The girl says after grabbing the young man’s hand 

The young man sighs before bending down to speak to the kids.

“Esther, Elliot. I HAVE to go. If I don’t, something bad will happen to you two, and I can’t have that on my mind.”

The two start to produce tears as they hug their older brother. He immediately pats their heads.

“No worries, I promise that I will come back alive, Okay?”

With teary eyes, they nod. The young man smiles and heads out. The younger siblings hug each other, already hoping for their older brother back.

Brody Satel is a fresh-faced recruit who signed into the Elizabethian military five months ago. He had been assigned to Synyastina 5 five days ago to help fill in some space after a major transfer of troops. When he arrived, he was surprised to find that his younger siblings, Elliot and Esther, had somehow snuck in. He told his CO about it and had gotten a ship scheduled for them to return home by, but because of the fact that the war is still raging on, it will take longer for a ship to come around. 

As he walks the underground level, Brody hears a conversation going on in a room next to him. Curious, he finds himself eavesdropping on a conversation between Captain Jones and the man leading the development of the new Cromwell Cannon, Mohammed al-Ghazzawi-Foster. Mohammad, behind his desk, is the only one seated. 

“For god sake Mohammed, I’m just concerned about the well being of my soldiers.”

“I note your concern, but I will not change my decision.”

The fifty year old captain rubs the back of his neck. “Look, as much I want us to win this war. I still have my soldiers to think about.”

Mohamed grins. “I’m very much aware of your worries, but I think this is the perfect opportunity to test the Cromwell Cannon’s capabilities, and the only available test subjects are your men.”

“But the bloody thing is only half done! Gables, Kendrick, Weeks, and my daughter are operating those things right now!”

“I know that the cannon aren’t completed yet, but the Kohunetians didn’t give us any time to finish. You understand, don’t you?”

Jones grits his teeth at the man’s words, knowing them to be mostly true, but the idea of it remains. Mohammed has gained a reputation of being a legitimate mad man when it comes to the development of new weapons and such. “Gah! I do, but the fact that you selectively chose those four makes me worry.”

“The reason I chose them is because of their abnormally high magic output. If the test could have gone on longer, then I wouldn’t have scouted those four in the first place.”

“Listen Mohammed, I know the usefulness of S-casters in the military, but there’s still a fine line of safety for these things. You can’t just place a half done, work-in-progress thing like the Cromwell Cannons into a battle. Now, I’ve already requested a backup talon squadron and an evac ship to be here in two minutes.”

Mohammed gives Jones an angry look. “I am so close to beating them and having my data too, Jones. Doesn’t his majesty want weapons to win wars? The Cromwell Cannon and the prototype Godking talon are key to this. This battle, nay, this war will solidify it. Once this project is done, Henry IX will have President Bilyk by the balls for seven more years.”

Jones only gives him a side eye of disgust before leaving. Noticing that discussion is over, Brody quickly leaves before the Captain sees him. He knew that R&D is working a new type of cannon, but he didn’t know that they were working on a new type of talon as well. 

Elsewhere, inside of a makeshift jail cell, sits a woman in her mid-twenties with a dirty blonde bob cut. Her dark green skin tight bodysuit is torn in some places, revealing the alluring pale skin covering her hourglass-like body, but also her bruises from interrogation.

Alisa Ivanov is very embarrassed of her situation. The top spy in her class, the one who fails the VERY least on missions, given the nickname “Woman of a thousand silent enters and exits” for her ability to get in without detection, the one that Major Gavrilyuk trusted the most on espionage missions time and time again, has been brought down by complete and utter happenstance. She was about halfway done, until she happen to walk into a room with a guy changing clothes. In her defense, the area was especially loud that day, so she couldn’t have heard him. Still, the idea of being caught in such a way is demoralizing. She would kill herself if the guards hadn’t already taken all of her stuff.

She is on constant watch by them, so she can’t pull anything funny. The guy watching her now has been giving her lurid looks. It didn’t help that he himself is rather horrid-looking. It’s quite the undesirable situation for her right now, made worse by the fact that the ugly guy has been trying to get her attention for the past few minutes. 

“Oi! Dov’! Oi! You Ko’unetian dov’!”

Alisa is fluent in English, but she is trying her best to ignore him right now.

“Ignore me all you want, dov’. I damn well know dat you know English, and I damn well know dat you know what I want from all my lookin’.”

Alisa just turns her body to the side, continuing her efforts to ignore him. She has had enough of this man’s attempts to woo her. The man grows increasingly frustrated; he hasn’t had any luck with any of the women here due to the Elizabethian Military’s strict policy on “On-duty relations”. A woman of Alisa’s figure has the guts to turn down his offer for some “fun”? Unforgivable.

“You know aye ‘aven’t ‘ad a good womanly touch in a while, so aye’m pretty pent up right now. Dere’s no cameras in ‘ere, so dere’s no stoppin’ me from comin’ in dere. So aye’ll give you two choices, you can let me give it to you kindly, or aye’ll give it to you “roughly”, if you get what aye’m sayin’, dov’.”

“Hey! Captain Jones said it’s my turn to watch over the captive.” Another male soldier walks in, and looks at the ongoing situation. “Hey Leddles, Captain told us not to do anything crude to the captive.”

“And why is dat? ‘Er mates are up topside killin’ our chums, right? If dey come in, dey’ll end up killin’ most of us. So why not aye go out shaggin’ dis Ko’uny dov’?”

“Uh, I don’t know if you know this, but Chief Researcher Mohammed has given the order to use the Cromwell Cannons, and the Captain has also called in for backup to come in two minutes.”

“What!? Well bugger me!”

This catches Alisa’s attention. She had heard of the Cromwell Cannons during her mission, but due to being caught, she hadn’t gotten a chance to see it. The soldier that was harassing took notice.

“So you ‘eard dat den, eh dov’? Does da fact dat your Ko’uny pals are probably gettin’ blasted gettin’ you worried? Guessin’ you’ll be ‘ere for a little while longer. Hehe!” 

“You Elizabethians think that you have the upper hand?”

“Oooh! She speaks! Well my dov’, if your pals ‘ave something to deal with da cannons, den dey ‘ave to deal with da incomin’ reinforcements. Hehe! Face it dov’, you’re stuck ‘ere.”

The man leaves while the other guy takes his seat, and the watch over Alisa.

“Come on Slavko, I know you can’t be killed that easily. You have a family to save…” Alisa repeats this in her mind. She hopes that somehow, reality will go back to being in accordance with her wishes.

On topside, Sobol’s squadron has been halved, no thanks to the cannons constantly firing upon them. Whoever is left has taken flight to the cover of tall buildings or the trees. The squadron radio is so filled with soldiers screaming plans for survival, that Olesya has to start a private call to talk with the rest of her squad.

“Shit! And to think we had it in the bag!” Bohuslav slams his fist down on his chair’s armrest.

“This is it…this is going to be it. We’re going to die here.” Pliniy is in a fetal position. His doggy bag has already burst from his heavy breathing.

“Litvinchuk, cut that out. I know we’re all nervous about this, but we have to come up with something,” Olesya says.

Gleb sits in his pilot chair, his arms crossed. Using his M-caster abilities to scan the cannons, he discerns that the cannons run on S-caster abilities. “So that’s what it is.” Gleb keeps searching, and comes across an antenna on all four of the cannons.

“Bingo!” Gleb takes the soonest opportunity to inform the rest on his findings. Olesya takes a minute to think of a plan, but Illyan interrupts her as he catches something on his radar. It looks like five big dots.

“Um, guys…I think we have company.”

Everyone in the squadron takes a moment to look and see what “company” is. Much to their dismay, it’s five of the Elizabethian aircraft called “Juts”. Like the ri’bers, juts are used to carry talons from one place to another.

Not one to waste more time in thought, Olesya gives orders over the radio. “Melnyk! Use this!” Olesya’s talon hands over a heavy beam rifle to Gleb’s talon. 

“Wait, huh? What do you—wait, I get it”

Olesya switches to the other radio to tell the rest of the squadron. “I may have an idea.”

Everyone makes confused sounds, and Tavifa is the first to make a coherent reply. “Wait, what are you planning to do?”

“Just watch, Shevchenko. Melnyk, fire when ready.”

“Gotcha!” Gleb aims the heavy beam rifle at one of the cannon’s antenna. Once he gets the aim just right, he fires.

Elsewhere under the ground, Captain Jones stands in front of four soldiers. Three of them are male; the fourth is his daughter Kimberly. Kimberly sits cozy on a chair, her titian colored hair tied up in a bun. Electrodes connected to her head give her the power to work the cannons.

“How is it going, Kim?”

“Pretty good, dad! My aim accuracy, my reaction time, even my senses feels like they’re on overdrive. It’s million times better than piloting a simple talon.”

“Do you see the reinforcements, Kim?”

“Yes I do, they should be arriving in a minute and forty seconds.”

Jones sighs. “That’s good.”

Kimberly is a bright girl, but she wants to do good for her parents more than anything else. She initially wanted to be in fashion, but decided to join in the military for stint so she could help her father. Her father forbade it since she was his only child, but Kimberly wore him down. She had long since known of her S-caster abilities, so she thought that she’d have an easy time of it. For obvious reasons the captain rarely sorties his twenty-two year old daughter, but when he has, she’s proven to be very capable. 

Brody also watches the S-casters operate the cannons, one of many. They include several other soldiers as well as Doctor Mohammed.

“Very nice!” Mohammed doesn’t conceal the Mengelean smile on his face, but he keeps these thoughts to himself. “If only Jones didn’t call in reinforcements, I would have had incredible test results by now. Maybe some other time.”

Mohammed pulls up windows on the monitors in the room, showing where the cannons are aiming.

Brody watches the monitors. Amazing work, he thinks, even if it’s only half done.

“We got them on the ropes, so far. They’re hiding behind cover like a bunch of cowards,” one of the S-casters says.

Kimberly notices something. “I’m getting some life.” She turns the cannon barrel to show an uncovered Kohunetian shushak aiming a beam rifle at her. “Wait, is he aiming for...”

Gleb fires a shot towards the antenna, destroying it. As it falls, a jolt of electricity rocks through Kimberly’s head like a speeding train toward another speeding train. Kimberly screams in agony. With klaxons flaring and sparks starting to come out of Kimberly’s electrodes, panic fills the room.

“KIMBERLY!” Jones yells before rushing over to help his daughter. Jones gets hold of his thrashing daughter’s head and starts taking the electrodes off. Unfortunately, volts of electricity surge out, knocking him off his daughter and onto the floor. He and everyone else looks up in horror at what’s happening.

Kimberly claws the stuffing out of her arm rest, and keeps clawing on the wood underneath. She foams at the mouth as snot is leaks from her nose. She’s moves her legs erratically up and down. Her hair unravels, and her eyes and ears bleed. Occasionally she bangs her back and head onto the seat like a mental patient in a straightjacket in a padded cell. Maybe she could take the electrodes off herself, but whatever is happening to her right now is locking certain joints in her body up.

“HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-ELP M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-ME! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH PLEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DAD S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-SA-A-A-A-A-A-A-AVE ME-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E! UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” 

“FOR FUCK SAKE MOHAMMED, TURN THE BLOODY THING OFF!”

Mohammed’s reaction is shocked, but not worried. “I can’t! If I do that, it might harm the others!”

Kimberly’s monitor shows the cannon barrel spinning at a speedy rate. By this point, everyone is too afraid to try and save her. She starts to violently cough up blood.

“*cough cough* AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! E ERTS! E ERTS! E ERTS! E ERTS! E ERTS! E ERTS! E ERTS! E ERTS! E ERTS! E ERTS! E ERTS! E ERTS! YRTS! YRTS! YRTS! YRTS! YRTS! YRTS! YRTS! YRTS! YRTS! YRTS! YRTS! YYYRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTS! *cough cough*MUUM-MY! MUUM-MY! MUUM-MY! MUUM-MY! MUUM-MY! MUUM-MY! MUUM-MY! MUUM-MY! MUUM-MY! MUUM-MY! MUUM-MY! *cough cough* LFMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHH!!!!”

The monitor shows Kimberly aiming for the reinforcements. She fires a shot at the juts, destroying three of them. She turns her attention on the cannons, and fires shot after shot on them. As she hits each one, the brains of the soldiers manning them explode, and they slump dead in their chairs. Jones can only look on in tearful terror as his precious little girl’s brain gets fried. He covers his ears to avoid hearing anymore of it.

“*cough cough* DA-DE! MUUM-MY! *cough cough* LFMEH! LFMEH! LFMEH! I DON WAN DE! I DON WAN DE! I DON WAN DE! IDONWANDE! IDONWANDE! IDONWANDE! IDONWANDE! IDONWAN—“

With a loud “SPLAT!”, the front of Kimberly’s head explodes, sending chunks of flesh, bone, blood, and brain onto the other soldiers. Before she dies, she lets out a telepathic wail that can be heard by everybody, from the Kohunetian pilots at the top to Esther and Elliot in Brody’s room. The kids cover their ears in terror. Jones gets the most of his daughter’s remains on him. Barely able to process what happened, he wipes his face. In the palm of his hand is the eyeball of his now late daughter. Unable to form words, Captain Jonah Jones screams in sorrow.

The rest of Sobol’s squadron stands in silence. 

Gleb says, “I did it…but I didn’t think it would work that good…”

Lieutenant Antonov was the first to break the silence. “No time to be standing here dumbfounded. We still got a mission to do.”

“Lieutenant Antonov, I have a plan. I’ve had it for a while, actually.”

“What is it?”

“Well it’s risky, but 1st platoon is still relatively unhurt, and squads 23rd to 25th are also at full numbers. I’m thinking that 1st platoon and squads 23rd to 25th should head down into the facility and clear it out.”

“Hold on there, Oil Face, but what if there more Elizabethians in there than what you’re going in there with, huh?”

“Well initially the plan was to have everyone go in, but unfortunately, the Elizabethians called in for backup.”

“So you want our platoon and squads 23rd to 25th to fill in Vovk’s role, while everyone else is fending off reinforcements. Is that correct, Sergeant Oliynyk?”

“I know it sounds like a suicide mission, Lieutenant Sokolov, but we’ve come so far already. If we fail now, we’ll be back at square one.”

Sokolov took a few seconds to think about it, until she sees the juts start moving again. “Okay, let’s do it. Sergeant Kolesnik, Sergeant Dziuba, and Sergeant Romana, meet my platoon at the refinery on the double!”

Tavifa sees squads 23rd to 25th start heading towards their location. “Damn you, Oil Face. Glibon’ko, you better survive for me,” she thinks.

Mohammed is in his office, preparing to make an escape out of Synyastina 5 back to his research lab in Rockmith. As he packs documents, blueprints, and result sheets into binders, one of the soldiers walks in.

“We’ve cleaned up the mess, sir. But the Captain hasn’t moved from his spot and is still clutching onto his daughter.”

“Huh!? Oh well. Is the transport ship ready to take off?”

“W-well yes, but it’ll take a little while for the engines to get going.”

“Damn…then leave me be until the engines are ready. Also, don’t waste my time with the captain’s drama, I have better things to do and I don’t want his blubbering to get in the way.”

“Yes sir.”

The soldier leaves Mohammed to think to himself for a bit.

“My teacher always told me that ‘Minor setbacks can lead into major returns.’ This moment in the Cannon’s development will certainly help make it better in the long run. As for my beautiful Godking, the prototype version will be developed eventually. I just need…”May

The soldier from earlier quickly ran back into Mohammed’s office.

“What is this time?”

“The Kohunetians have got in the elevator and are heading down here.”

On the way down the elevator shaft, Sokolov’s troops ready their firearms. The elevator that they are in can hold at least one-hundred and ninety people, which is enough more than enough space to fit forty-six Kohunetian soldiers. These soldiers can only envy the equipment of the regular infantry, though. Kohunetian pilots only come equipped with pistols, semi-auto assault rifles, five grenades, and a sword as a last resort. They are also issued bulletproof vests, but whether or not they’ll be effective for this task will just have to be seen.

“Okay men; be ready to head out shooting. Once we’re done, we’ll split up into four groups! One will take the east end where our spy should be held up in! The other two will head west and north to find where those cannons are being developed and to wrangle up any soldiers we find! The rest will stay near the elevator to keep it clear until the others come back!“

“YES SIR!”

“Okay! Ready your weapons!”

As the elevator approaches the bottom floor, the Elizabethian soldiers at the bottom hastily prop up whatever they can find as cover. The Kohunetians have grabbed some tables and desks from the first floor to use as cover as well. Gleb aims for the door, and counts the seconds as other soldiers crouching behind the same desk do the same.

“1…”

“2…”

“3…”

“4…”

“……5…….”

The door opens.

“FIRE!”

Bullets fly back and forth. Gleb takes out the less-covered Elizabethian soldiers like bottles in a shooting game, and some of the soldiers behind Gleb huck grenades at the ones with better cover. When the gun fighting is done, they split up as planned. Olesya and Pliniy go with the north group, Bohuslav and Yuliy go with the east group, and Gleb, Illyan, and Klara go with the west group.

Some of the Elizabethian soldiers run to the transport ship, but others stay to face the Kohunetians. Brody is one of the latter. One of the soldiers standing with him asks, “Are you sure about this, Brody? You have siblings to look after.”

“Don’t worry. I told them that I’ll be holding off the Kohunetians for as long as I can. Then once that is done, I’ll run back to where they are and make a break for the ship.”

As the group of soldiers run for the enemy, they come across Captain Jones walking towards them, but the Captain looks a mess. His blood stained uniform jacket is ripped down the middle. He’s lost his captain’s hat somewhere, showing his graying, disheveled, receding hair. His eyes aren’t that of a thirty-eight year veteran, but of a man who’s lost his soul. 

“Ca-Captain Jones!?” says one of the soldiers. “The Kohunetians have entered the base and--“ 

Jones completely ignores them and walks past. The soldiers realize that he’s heading in the direction of the weapons room.

“I wonder why he’s heading there…?”

“No time to ponder. We need to keep moving.”

The soldiers continue to run as Brody looks back at the Captain. Brody breaks his gaze and begins to catch up with the others.

In Alisa’s cell, the Kohunetian spy tries to avoid the grasp of her ugly pervert guard. The guy who was sent to switch with him got switched back, but this was a trick. He knew that there is a chance he will die, and he will not go out without a bang.

“You should’ve let me shag you, dov’! Da only person ‘ere to blame will be you!”

He knocks her over, and looms over the spy on the floor.

“Time to feel your milkers!”

He starts groping Alisa’s covered breast with one hand. She can’t do anything about this, she’s about to be raped by this man whose mind is as ugly as his face. The only thing she can think about before the man starts to rip open her bodysuit is “Damn it Bohuslav! Where the hell are you?” Her breast are on full display to the man. He salivates at the prospect of ravaging her body.

“Hehehe! Well, as the Vercinterrians says, ‘bon appétit’!”

*BANG*

Still too enthralled by Alisa’s breasts to notice his blown-out brains, the pervert falls next to Alisa. Bohuslav, the shooter, rushes over to open the cell door. Alisa takes the corpse’s uniform jacket to cover her breasts. As she looks up again, she sees Bohuslav, covering his eyes.

“Sorry I was late, Alisa. I hope he didn’t do anything too depraved to you.”

Alisa walks over to Bohuslav and takes his hand away from his eyes. She places her hand on his cheek, only to slap him a second later.

“’Sorry I was late’ Indeed! Who knows what kind of wanton acts he could have done to my body if you were just a bit later.”

“Yeah…yeah…s-sorry…”

Alisa takes a deep breath. “It is quite alright, Slavko. As long as you saved me, it’s fine.” Alisa takes a moment to savor, then glares in Bohuslav with squinty eyes “You peeped at my tits, didn’t you?”

That took Bohuslav aback. “W-what!? N-no I didn’t! Why the fuck would you think that!?”

“Oh my god, yes you did! You’re such a creepy pervert, Slavko! What would Auntie Albina, your mother, think Slavko!?”

“Oh come on! Why the fuck would I do that to my cousin!?”

“Hey, you may never know!”

“Are you saying that I’m into incest!?”

“Not like it would be the first time!”

“I SAID THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!” 

Yuliy watches as the two cousins argue, and the normally silent man finds something to say. “Idiots…”

Elsewhere Mohammed is having trouble trying to get his research notes. The case that is carrying the notes on the Godking is a little light, but the case that has the notes on the Cromwell Cannons more than makes up for it. “Why the bloody hell did I have to make so many.” Fortunately for him, a soldier passes by.

“Do you need some help with that Dr. Mohammed?”

“Why yes please!”

He had the soldier carry the case with the Godking notes in them. They quickly head to the transport.

Gleb, Illyan and Klara make their way through the base. Their group has already captured some soldiers. On the way, they come by a room that causes Illyan to stop for a second.

“Hey guys! I think I saw someone in that room over there.”

Gleb looks back and asks “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

The three of them head back to that room, but see nothing.

“They could be hiding somewhere,” says Klara.

Illyan raises his hand. “I’ll go in. I’m fluent in English.”

“Okay, we’ll cover you,” says Gleb.

Illyan slowly walks in, gun in front of him, and Gleb and Klara behind. “Okay! Whoever is in here, come out now!” He hears a slight noise from a locker close by.

Illyan walks over to the locker. Gleb and Klara take position, aiming their guns at the locker, and Illyan slowly reaches for the handle. He takes a deep breath as he grips the handle, then throws the door open.

He didn’t know what to think. A cringing soldier ready to surrender was what he was hoping for. A desperate warrior looking to take a few with him was what he half-expected. A grenade with its lever tied to the door was what he suddenly thought up as he touched the handle and what terrorized him as he opened the door. Nowhere on that list were two children.

“What the hell?” says Gleb.

Esther instinctively clutches Elliot against her. Gleb and Klara are as befuddled as Illyan. Children on a military owned settlement? Is this a joke? Illyan lowers his gun to the side and bends down.

“Hey, what are you doing in a place like this?”

No response.

“Uh, I know that we are maybe the enemy to you guys, but rest assured we won’t hurt you. So can you please come with us?” 

“N-no” says Esther. “We were told to stay here until big brother comes back, so no.”

Illyan turned back to Gleb and Klara and repeated what she said.

“Well, we can’t leave them here,” says Klara.

Gleb scratches his head. “Illyan, can you try harder to convince them? If they say ‘no’, we’ll have to take them by force.”

Illyan nods, then goes back to the siblings. Gleb and Klara look at each other.

“Do you think we’ve already killed this ‘Big Brother’ of theirs?”

“I’m not sure Gleb, I’d say there’s a 50/50 chance that he may be alive.”

“Well if he is alive and if we come across him I can’t guarantee that he’ll be spared.”

“You’re lucky they don’t understand what you’re saying. Otherwise they would try their damndest to stay put.”

Esther and Elliot step out of the locker willingly.

“You sure you can find him?” ask Esther.

“I’ll try my best!” Illyan gives a thumbs up. “Just follow behind us, okay?” The siblings nod.

“Illyan dear, what did you tell them?”

“I told them that if they come out, we’ll find their older brother.”

Gleb raises a brow at that. “So what are you going to do if we don’t find him?”

“Easy, we send them back to their relatives.”

The response made Gleb sigh and Klara giggle. Now with two kids with them, the three of them walk out to meet up with the others.

Upside, Tafiva finishes off an enemy talon with a beam rifle. She looks at the scene around her; just about all clear. She takes a deep breath and pulls out a locket. It’s a picture of her and Gleb when they were kids. She presses the locket against her chest as she reminisces her childhood with Gleb.

In the tunnels, Olesya applies some rope on an Elizabethian soldier’s wrist; this is the fifth one she’s caught. There would have been more, but some soldiers are willing to die rather than let the enemy win. Pliniy is with her, but hiding. However he reveals himself by shooting at some soldiers whom were about to get the drop on Olesya.

“Okay Litvinchuk, you can come out now!”

She takes out an elongated coin from her breast pocket. The coin has the words “Stoneland amusement park” on it. It’s a gift from Gleb from when they were young and went to that park. She smiles warmly, and thinks about those times.

As they head to where they should meet with the rest of the platoon, Gleb and the others make a stop in a huge room to figure out where they are. Brody, lucklessly searching for his brother and sister, also stops in the same huge room to catch his breath. Much to his “luck”, it’s the same room. Below him, right in his eyes, are his siblings, and three Kohunetian soldiers in between.

Ideas swarm through Brody’s head. “They caught them…they caught Esther and Elliot! I told them to stay put! Did they force them out? I’ve got to save them.” He’s on a catwalk above the Kohunetians, so he has the advantage. He aims his rifle at Illyan’s head. As Brody lines up a shot, Gleb finally notices the Elizabethian.

“WATCH OUT!”

Everyone evades Brody’s shot and quickly finds cover behind some metal boxes.

“Damn! I missed!” Brody swears under his breath.

“Illyan, I’ll distract him. You and Klara take the kids away from here.”

“Gotcha!”

Following the plan, Gleb shoots at Brody while Illyan and Klara escape with the kids, who have yet to realize that the soldier that Gleb is fighting is their older brother. Brody is helpless to stop them.

With a loud “FUCK!”, Brody shoots at Gleb’s cover. “YOU FUCKING KOHUNETIAN WANKERS. LIKE HELL I’LL LET YOU HARM MY FAMILY!” Gleb’s English is only good enough to register the idea of an insult, though. Gleb’s movie-based English knowledge only covers the second word, though.

When Brody had to reload his gun, Gleb takes the opportunity to take out a makeshift sticky bomb he’d made. He activates the bomb and throws it at one of the supporting beams supporting the catwalk Brody is on. It takes a second for Brody to realize what’s happening. 

Elsewhere, Illyan and Klara catch up with Olesya, Pliniy, Bohuslav, Alisa, and Yuliy. He gives them the run down on what has happened. Just then a loud boom was heard from Illyan’s and Klara’s backs.

“Gleb!” Olesya runs towards where the sound came from. “Take those children to Lieutenant Sokolov! I’ll get Gleb!”

Bohuslav says, “Did she just call him ‘Gleb’...twice?”

Brody barely escapes the blast radius. However, he isn’t able to get on a stable section of the catwalk, and as the support pillar crumbles, he falls to the floor. Brody looks up to see Gleb pointing his rifle to his head. With a smirk on his face, Gleb pulls the trigger on his gun. Unfortunately for Gleb, his rifle is already empty.

“Sh-Shit!”

Gleb also realizes that he forgot his pistol in his shushak. Using this welcome surprise to the fullest, Brody grabs the rifle by the barrel and smashes the butt against Gleb’s face, then unsheathes his Elizabethian military sword. Gleb gains his composure just in time to dodge Brody’s sword, and unsheathe his.

It’s clear that Gleb is the better swordsman of the two. Each time Brody strikes, Gleb just parries or blocks the hit, but as the Elizabethan’s frustration grows, his form only becomes sloppier. All he is thinking about is rescuing Esther and Elliot, the only two family he has left.

“DAMN YOU! JUST FUCKING DIE ALREADY YOU BASTARD!”

Though Gleb may not understand what he’s saying, he does understand his emotions. 

“DIE!” Brody goes for a another hit, but Gleb parries it by cutting Brody’s hand off.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHH!!!!” Brody clutches his forearm in pain, but his rage allows him to ignore it enough to grab his sword.

“I won’t let you…I WON’T FUCKING LET YOU!!“ He makes a charge towards Gleb with his sword raised. “I WILL--“is all he can say before Gleb plunges his sword into Brody’s stomach. The young soldier keels over.

Before Gleb can do anything else, Brody starts speaking. “I won’t let you fucks harm them. My little brother and sister. I will save them and we’ll head back home and I’ll get them their favorite ice cream.” Tears roll down Brody’s face.

Starting to understand the foreigner’s emotions, Gleb sheathes his sword and leaves the room. He just avoided the Elizabethian soldiers coming in. 

Mohammed was able to get in the transport plane, but was told they need to wait for survivors. He holds the case with the plans for the Cromwell Cannon inside. A few more figures enter the plane. One these men is Captain Jones, who takes a seat next to Mohammed.

Gleb heads down the hall until he finally meets up with Olesya.

“Hey, sorry for keeping you waiting.”

“Never mind that, let’s get back to the others.” She grabs onto his hand.

“Sheesh Oil Face! Do you really ‘like’ me like that?”

Olesya blushes at his comment as usual “Sh-Shut up!”

With the last of the Elizabethians entering the transport ship, the hatch opens to let the ship leave. Everyone feels defeated, figuratively as well as literally. Not Mohammed, though. All he cares for is his research on the Cromwell Cannon and the Godking. 

Then suddenly, Captain Jones starts to laugh. He’s been quiet since the death of his daughter, and everyone thought he would be like this for a long time. The general opinion that he’s lost it solidifies.

“So Mohammed, you think you got away scot-free, don’t you?” says Jones, grinning.

“What makes you think I didn’t?” 

“Because even though you’re in the safety of your own men, there is still one danger left.” Jones inches closer and closer to Mohammed. “Because of your godless experiments, I’ve lost my only child.” Mohammed begins to back away. 

“When I was with my daughter’s corpse, I thought to myself ‘How could I let this happen? Is this my fault? No! It’s Mohammed’s fault! It was his idea to hook Kimberly up to that monstrosity, which lead her to her death! IT’S MOHAMMED’S FAULT! MOHAMMED’S FAULT!’” As the man keeps speaking, fear shows on Mohammed’s face.

“L-Listen Jonah, I meant it how there's was nothing we could do for Kimberly at the moment. You can’t just--“

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!!” Mohammed finds himself between a door and Captain Jonah Jones. The other soldiers on the ship look on in fear. 

“You may have got away then, but now….” Jones opens the door to show how high up they are. “Justice is here to judge you…”

Finally had enough, one of the soldiers stand up to say “Please Captain, don’t do this.”

“Y-Y-Yeah! You heard what he said. Plus, King Henry will--“

“TO HELL WHAT KING HENRY WILL THINK!” Jones rips off his uniform jacket to reveal a vest covered in grenades. “KING HENRY WON’T BRING MY BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER BACK! AND NEITHER WILL YOU! SO THE ONLY THING THAT I CAN DO IS MAKE HER REST EASILY! CHEERIO, MOHAMMED AL-GHAZZAWI-FOSTER!!!!!” With a strong shove, Jones tackles Mohammed out the plane, taking the Cromwell Cannon plans and himself. During the free fall, he activates his grenade vest to explode, killing them both.

The rest of his men look on in horror. Their captain has just killed himself with the head researcher and the plans for their new weapon in tow. How will they get over that? The only silver lining is that not all Mohammed’s ideas are gone; they still have the plans for the Godking. All they need to do is find someone who can complete it.

As the rest of Sokolov’s platoon comes out, they see that their comrades have cleaned up the rest of the enemy forces, and have called for a ri’ber and a second fyuv to pick them and the prisoners up. Illyan is able to convince Sokolov to have Esther and Elliot board the ri’ber with them. Bohuslav is delighted to be able to rescue his cousin alive, while Alisa is glad to be out of there at last. Tafiva is happy to see that her Glibon’ko is alive. Gleb and Olesya exchange smiles, but one thing lingers in Gleb’s mind. “Was the man I faced those two kids’ older brother?” That’s something that he’ll have to worry about later.

Though the war still rages on, their battle is over, and for a debut mission, Olesya’s squad did quite well. Who knows what the future will have in store for them in the long-run. The only thing that can be said for sure is that right now, the solar winds of war blow in the front lines.

-EPILOGUE-

Pain, sadness, and rage is all Brody can feel at the moment. They say that he just needs to take a rest for a while, but he knows better. He knows that he can’t do anything anymore. He can’t save his only family from the Kohunetian menace, even from that one soldier. He swears that if he finds a way to continue his service, then he’ll rescue his siblings and find that godless Kohunetian bastard, and kill him. Those two kids are his family, and no one will harm his family…no one…no one…

To Be Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there will be more chapters, of course. I'm already working on chapter two as we speak at the time of this upload, but it'll take awhile for it to come out on AO3. If you want to see the chapter before it comes out for AO3 a few weeks early, then fallow the /m/ag threads on 4chan's /m/ board to get updates on the other stories on there, and get a possible release date for future volumes! Well see ya around!
> 
> Captain OUT!

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story that first appeared in a /m/ board made doujin magazine called "/m/ag"
> 
> Here's a link to a collection of download links to any and all future volumes - https://pastebin.com/h3wMZw6n


End file.
